Don’t take the rule of law for granted

This is a good time, a year after the assault on the capitol, to think of what the rule of law means to all of us. The system is far from perfect, I have seen judges, governors, legislators all make mistakes, and do things that I do not agree with, they are human. That being said, peacefully resolving disagreements, whether they are legal, or political, beats the alternatives. In my younger days I traveled through some countries that did not have the rule of law, places where violence determined who their leaders were. In those places people had no control over their government, police and soldiers roamed the streets and highways stopping and searching at gunpoint anyone they wanted to. People lived in fear, in parts of the countryside armed conflict raged between competing factions, as there was no way to resolve differences politically. I was happy to get back home where it was stable and safe, something I had always taken for granted before visiting those places. It is easy to take the rule of law for granted, but, if it is lost much of what we love in our everyday lives will be gone to.